Leid Stories—Dr. Gerald Horne Deciphers Trump’s Challenges In Hot Spots At Home and Abroad—11.22.17

Historian and political scientist Dr. Gerald Horne discusses several developments around the world and at home that have serious implications for U.S domestic and foreign policy. Horne holds the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. A prolific author, he has written more than 30 books and 100 scholarly papers on struggles against …

This Can’t Be Happening – 10.12.16

Host Dave Lindorff talks with Keegan Stephan, law student, activist and writer working with attorneys and Black Lives Matters activist in a lawsuit to force the NYPD to come clean and disclose the extent of undercover infiltration of the Black Lives Matter movement that the department has been engaged in since its inception. The case developed out of an FOIA request concerning such infiltration of a Black Lives Matter protest last year in Grand Central Station.

Leid Stories—Dr. Gerald Horne’s Radically Different View of Election 2016 (Part 2)—08.11.16

On yesterday’s program, our guest, historian Gerald Horne, offered a comprehensive analysis of Election 2016 and the many reasons it is a watershed moment in U.S. social and political history. He returns today to answer listeners’ questions. Dr. Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores Chair of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is …

Leid Stories—Dr. Gerald Horne’s Radically Different View of Election 2016—08.10.16

This year’s presidential election, we’re constantly told, is, and ever will be, “historic.” Thinking minds immediately should erect their best defenses, for U.S. history has a very peculiar history; it almost never tells the whole story, and its chief purpose is to secure and undergird the interests of the power elite.

Black Agenda Radio – 6.06.16

Welcome, this is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford with my co-host, Nellie Bailey., here is a weekly hour of African American political thought and action

– Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney says Black people have no stake in the Republican or Democratic parties. McKinney was the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2008. She has since earned her PhD in Leadership and Change. We asked McKinney if she has ever seen anything like the current disarray in both major parties this election season?

– Political activists from around the nation are planning to be in Philadelphia, in late July, for the Democratic National convention. Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a native Philadelphian, a member of the Black Radical Organizing Committee, and one of the organizers of last January’s national conference on the Black Radical Tradition. Dr. Monteiro says this is the most “consequential” election season in, perhaps, a century.

– Rev. Edward Pinkney is serving a sentence of 30 months to ten years in prison for allegedly tampering with a voter petition in his hometown of Benton Harbor, Michigan. The mostly Black city has long been under the thumb of the Whirlpool Corporation. Rev. Pinkney spoke to Prison Radio on how he became a political prisoner.

– Studies show that Black girls are suspended or expelled from school at six times the rate of white girls. Education Week magazine spoke with researchers on the causes of these wildly disproportionate punishments. Adrienne Dixson, a professor of Critical Race Theory at the University Illinois.

– The United States seems to be closer to its long time goal of overthrowing the left wing government in Venezuela. The Venezuelans say Washington is gearing up for a military intervention. Utrice Leid, host of Leid Stories, on the Progressive Radio Network, recently interviewed Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.

Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.

Leid Stories – Asia, Venezuela, Brazil, Britain and the U.S. In Focus – 06.02.16

Dr. Gerald Horne, John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, tells us what we need to know about President Obama’s 10th “pivot-to-Asia” trip; what’s behind the push against Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff; Britain’s June 23 referendum on whether to leave the European union; and the Clinton drag on Obama’s “legacy.”

Horne, who also teaches diplomatic history, is the author of more than 30 books (including, most recently, Paul Robeson: The Artist As Revolutionary; Confronting Black Jacobins: The U.S., the Haitian Revolution and the Origins of the Dominican Republic; and Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow.

In addition, he has written more than 100 scholarly papers that focus on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism and racism.

Black Agenda Radio – 05.16.16

Welcome to the radio magazine, that gives you a weekly hour of African American political thought and action, news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective with your host Glen Ford and his co-host, Nellie Bailey.

– Dilma Rousseff, of the Brazilian Workers Party, was removed from her office as president, last week, and put on trial by the nation’s Senate on charges of manipulating the budget. Rousseff is not accused of any acts of personal corruption, but about 60 percent of the Senators that will be judging her DO face corruption charges. Rousseffs Worker’s Party says the impeachment proceedings amount to a “soft coup,” and they will fight it out in streets. Dr. Gerald Horne is a prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He says the right-wing move against Rousseff must be understood in a global context.

– Socialist Alternative Party leader Kshama Sawant is circulating a petition asking Bernie Sanders to run as an independent if his campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination is unsuccessful. Sawant says Sanders should either run on the Green Party ticket or pave the way for a new party of the 99 percent. The Green Party will choose its presidential candidate in August, and the nominee is expected to be Dr. Jill Stein. We asked Dr. Stein, Aren’t the Greens already a Party of the 99%?

– A statewide work stoppage by inmates at Alabama prisons seems to be winding down. The protest was organized by inmates of the Free Alabama Movement. Pastor Kenneth Glascow has been negotiating on behalf of the prisoners. Glascow has himself served a term in prison. He now head a prison reform group called TOPS, which stands for “The Ordinary People Society.” Glascow is the half-brother of Rev. Al Sharpton. Pastor Glascow talked to us about the prisoners’ grievances.

– Inside the prison walls, the work stoppage was organized by inmate activists like Bennu Hannibal, a leader of the Free Alabama Movement. Hannibal spoke to Prison Radio, from the St. Clair Correctional Facility.

Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Leid Stories – Obama in Cuba: Audacity and Hope – 03.22.16

President Barack Obama today caps his historic three-day visit to Cuba with a speech delineating his version of a working relationship with the Communist state, now that the United States has agreed to cease hostilities initiated in 1959.

Dr. Gerald Horne, John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, discusses Obama’s visit and its implications.

Horne, who also teaches diplomatic history, is the author of more than 30 books (including Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba during Slavery and Jim Crow) and more than 100 scholarly papers that focus on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism and racism.

Leid Stories – 02.16.16

A Court Supreme: The Not-So-Endearing Legacy of Justice Antonin Scalia

The Un-Democratic Party Helps Hillary Win Without Actually Winning

Dr. Gerald Horne, the John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston and frequent analyst of world affairs on Leid Stories, discusses the enduring impact of Justice Antonin Scalia on the U.S. Supreme Court, decisions that reflect both its politicization and rightward shift in recent decades, and whether President Obama’s nominee to replace Scalia could substantially change the tenor and direction of the court.

Bernie Sanders’ underdog campaign almost torpedoed Hillary Clinton in Iowa, and she definitely “felt the Bern” in New Hampshire with Sanders’ double-digit victory margin. Yet she’s winning. Big. Leid Stories explains how the Democratic Party’s rigged delegate system could cause Sanders to lose the party’s nomination, even if he wins in the primaries.

Leid Stories – 08.11.15

Past Is Present: 50 Years After the Watts Rebellion, Ferguson’s Crisis Confirms Delusions of ‘Progress’ and ‘Change’

Fifty years ago today, the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, a tinderbox smoldering for decades under the yoke of poverty, disfranchisement, governmental indifference, and militarized police oppression, exploded in a cathartic rage. The heavy-handed arrest of a black motorist by white cops for drunk driving was the spark that set Watts aflame for six days and transformed it into a war zone—claiming 34 lives; causing more than $40 million in property damage; adding 4,000 National Guards, 934 city cops and 71 sheriffs to the city’s police force; causing about 3,500 arrests.

Half a century later, Ferguson, Missouri, is under its second state of emergency as the mostly black town of 21,000 observes the anniversary of the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown by former police officer Darren Wilson on Aug. 9 last year.

Mainstream media, until yesterday, were touting headlines and news stories about “change.” But our guest, Dr. Gerald Horne, a diplomatic scholar, historian, attorney and prolific author, draws stark parallels between Watts and Ferguson.

Horne is the John J. and Rebecca Moores chair of history and African American studies at the University of Houston. He has written more than 30 books, and more than 100 scholarly papers and reviews, on struggles against imperialism, colonialism, fascism and racism. Pertinent to our discussion today is his authoritative account and analysis of the Watts Rebellion, Fire This Time, The Watts Uprising and the 1960s.